Since the mid 1400's, with the advent of the movable type press, written publications have been used to disseminate information. As publishing has evolved, publishers have tried to target the specific interests of readers by publishing books and periodicals that only have informational content related to a particular subject. For example, there are magazines that are directed exclusively to automobiles, interior decorating, science, antiques, and a tremendous variety of other subjects.
Advertisers have taken advantage of such topic-specific publishing. In fact, for publications on a particular subject having only limited distribution, advertising may pay for much or all of the publication costs. This arrangement allows readers to obtain informational content directed to their specific interests, while at the same time allowing advertisers to concentrate their advertising expenses for advertisements that are reasonably certain to reach the advertisers target audience.
This arrangement is an improvement over mass publishing, but it still has a number of drawbacks. First, a reader will typically have several unrelated interests. For example, a reader may be interested in automobiles, stamp collecting, gardening and boating. In order to obtain information on each of these topics, a reader thus will typically have to subscribe to several different publications. Second, even the most specifically targeted periodical must still be generated for as broad an audience as possible. Thus, while a reader may subscribe to an automobile magazine only to read articles related to particular make and model of automobile, such articles may only occasionally be printed in the magazine. If the reader does not read the magazine other than for those specific articles, then the reader will not review the advertisements accompanying the unread articles, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the magazine to the advertisers. Third, a reader may not be able to subscribe to or read every periodical relating to a specific subject, and therefore may miss an article that would be of special interest.
Recently, publishers have begun to deliver informational content electronically over information networks, such as the Internet. One such system is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/325,040 to Jon A. Brewster et al, filed on Jun. 7, 1999. These types of content delivery systems allow publishers to provide very specific informational content to an individual based upon collected profile information for that individual. For example, if a reader has indicated an interest in a particular make and model of automobile, the delivery system can provide the reader with informational content (e.g., magazine articles) related to only that make and model of automobile, while filtering out other, unrelated, informational content. Similarly, along with the informational content for specific subject matter, the system can provide advertising or commercial content to a reader based upon the reader's profile information or the advertiser's profile information. For example, a ski equipment company can designate that its advertisements appear with informational content relating to skiing, or be provided to readers that have indicated an interest in the subject of skiing.
While these Internet delivery systems can provide both specifically targeted informational and advertising content to readers, these systems do not inform the readers as to why they are receiving the content. This can be very intimidating to a reader. In some instances, the system may provide content that is so specific to the reader's current situation that the reader may become concerned that his or her privacy is being violated. For example, if the reader is having financial trouble and receives advertising content for a credit consolidation service, the reader may believe that the system has improperly obtained the reader's personal finance information. In actuality, the advertisement may only have been provided to the reader because the advertiser designated that the advertisement be included with all distributed articles relating to personal finance. As the amount of personal information collected over the Internet has increased, the concern over privacy issues has increases as well, and will probably continue to do so in the foreseeable future.
Still further, the profile information for a reader may be incorrect or inaccurate, causing the reader to receive undesired content. For example, while a reader owns a particular make and model of automobile, the reader's profile information may correctly indicate that the reader desires to receive articles relating to that make and model of automobile. If the reader sells that automobile, however, the reader will probably stop wanting articles relating to that make and model of automobile. If the reader's profile information is not updated, then the reader may continue to receive unwanted articles about that automobile.
Moreover, the profile information may not be sufficiently specific. For example, if a reader orders an article on postage stamps featuring Elvis Presley, the reader's profile information may be automatically revised to indicate an interest in postage stamps, causing the reader to receive articles on stamp collecting. In fact, the reader may be primarily interested in Elvis Presley, and thus interested in only receiving articles on postage stamps that feature Elvis Presley.